AROUND THE LEAGUE.

Bryant on board for U.S. teams

Kobe Bryant plans to play for the U.S. team at this year's world basketball championships and the 2008 Olympics.

Bryant gave an emphatic nod to joining the U.S. team in a meeting Friday with the head of USA Basketball, Jerry Colangelo.

"I'm very excited, man, very excited," Bryant said. "I'm excited to be an Olympian, to represent our country. I've been looking forward to this."

Bryant, the NBA's leading scorer at 34.7 points per game, joins LeBron James as the two players who publicly have been named to the 20-man U.S. roster that will report to a training camp in Las Vegas this summer, then travel to a series of exhibition games in China and South Korea before taking part in the world championships in Japan. The Beijing Olympics are in 2008.

Layups

Timberwolves guard Fred Hoiberg met with doctors on Friday to discuss his recovery from open-heart surgery but still is uncertain about trying to become the first man to play in the NBA with a pacemaker. Hoiberg, who had surgery to repair an aneurysm in his aortic root, said his doctor laid out all the information for him but stopped short of clearing him to play again. . . . Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks said he had a talk with leading scorer Allen Iverson to discuss Wednesday's game, when Iverson left the court with about 13 seconds left in a loss to the Nets. "I talked to him about being a leader, and that's not a way to be a leader."